Thinking Faith: The Catholic Podcast

Boys Club Q&A - Part 2

Earlier this spring the local Conquest Boy's Club sent the podcast a literal basket full of questions. Join Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett as they dig in and answer whichever questions they happen to pull. Show Snippet: "Something like culpability is something that we never know from the outside in an individual case, but we do know from the church's way of thinking about this that the church doesn't stand in judgment on those kinds of things and instead offers God's mercy to anyone who's like, 'Yeah...

Boys Club Q&A - Part 1

Earlier this spring the local Conquest Boy's Club sent the podcast a literal basket full of questions. Join Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett as they dig in and answer whichever questions they happen to pull. Show Snippet: "It strikes me that the questions that we would ask or ought to ask from a Catholic perspective would be some of those core foundations of Catholic moral teaching like, 'How is this affecting the dignity of the human person? How much participation does this system or that system allow...

A Demonology of the Internet with Dr. Thomas P. Harmon - Part 2

A Demonology of the Internet with Dr. Thomas P. Harmon - Part 2 In this part two of two Dr. Thomas Harmon, professor and Scanlan Foundation Chair in Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas examines the powerful concepts of the Incarnation and bodily sacraments as potential remedies against the subtle manipulations of digital media. Together we'll dive into how embracing our earthbound bodies and material realities can serve as a counterbalance to the discarnate influences prev...

A Demonology of the Internet with Dr. Thomas P. Harmon - Part 1

A Demonology of the Internet with Dr. Thomas P. Harmon - Part 1 In this part one of two, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett visit with Dr. Thomas Harmon, professor and Scanlan Foundation Chair in Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas to discuss his recent article for The American Mind "Spirits of the Cloud: A deomonology of the Internet." They'll examine the intricate web of influence woven by both human vices and technological algorithms and explore the intersections between age-old...

The Archdiocese Of Regina Lay Formation Program

This week Deacon Eric gathers with three graduates of the Archdiocese of Regina's Lay Formation program to discuss what drew them to take part, what the experience has been like, and how things have changed in their relationship with Jesus Christ, His Church, and their relationships in the world. To register for Fall classes, contact Deacon Eric at egurash@archregina.sk.ca. Show snippet: "I had been fairly active in the parish; I'd been teaching Sacramental prep, and working with kids forever, a...

Grassroots Ecumenism With Karen Petersen Finch - Part 2

In this part 2 of 2 Dr. Brett visits with Karen Peterson Finch about her latest book "Grassroots Ecumenism: The Way of Local Christian Reunion" as they examine the promise and the challenges in addressing Christian unity at the local level. Show Snippet: "Be reasonable. So we've said your mind naturally experiences. Now do it attentively. Your mind naturally has insight. Do it intelligently. In other words, be open to new possibilities or to a real understanding of what's happening now. The thir...

Grassroots Ecumenism With Karen Petersen Finch - Part 1

In this part 1 of 2 Dr. Brett visits with Karen Peterson Finch about her latest book "Grassroots Ecumenism: The Way of Local Christian Reunion" as they examine the promise and the challenges in addressing Christian unity at the local level. Show Snippet: "Could it be that the doctrine of your church and your neighbor's church can actually give new fuel to what you are trying to do and can refresh things for you? And it'll bring it to life again, and you can have fun again, encountering the other...

The Reed Of God Summer Retreat - Part 4 Our Lady's Seeking

Join Deacon Eric for this special summer retreat with Mary through the lens of the Caryll Houselander spiritual classic, "The Reed of God." Journey with Mary as a spiritual companion and guide through the nativity, ministry, death, and resurrection of her Son Jesus Christ and discover new avenues to faith, discipleship, and mission. Show Snippet: "Just as we cannot depend on feelings to know that Christ is in ourselves, we cannot depend on appearances to know that he is in others...That which is...

The Reed Of God Summer Retreat - Part 3 The Lost Child

Join Deacon Eric for this special summer retreat with Mary through the lens of the Caryll Houselander spiritual classic, "The Reed of God." Journey with Mary as a spiritual companion and guide through the nativity, ministry, death, and resurrection of her Son Jesus Christ and discover new avenues to faith, discipleship, and mission. Show Snippet:"Here, then, is the answer for why seeking the Lost Child is such a universal human experience, so much so that Mary herself was drawn into experiencing...

The Reed Of God Summer Retreat - Part 2 Fugue

Join Deacon Eric for this special summer retreat with Mary through the lens of the Caryll Houselander spiritual classic, "The Reed of God." Journey with Mary as a spiritual companion and guide through the nativity, ministry, death, and resurrection of her Son Jesus Christ and discover new avenues to faith, discipleship, and mission. Show Snippet:"God had taken His little reed into His hands and the breath of His love sang through it, and this utterance would go on for all generations. In giving ...

The Reed Of God Summer Retreat with Deacon Eric Gurash - Part 1 Advent

Join Deacon Eric for this special summer retreat with Mary through the lens of the Caryll Houselander spiritual classic, "The Reed of God." Journey with Mary as a spiritual companion and guide through the nativity, ministry, death, and resurrection of her Son Jesus Christ and discover new avenues to faith, discipleship, and mission. Show Snippet: "Sometimes it may seem to us that there is no purpose in our lives, that going day after day for years to this office or that school or factory is noth...

Evangelization Doesn't Have to be Hard

This week Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett discuss an evangelization event at Holy Rosary Cathedral for the Regina Cathedral Village Arts Festival whose overwhelming success not only revealed the deep hunger in the human soul for something more but also showed that evangelization doesn't have to be hard. Show Snippet: "So when we were preparing for this event, we were trying to imagine what kind of, I mean, logistically how many candles do you get for something like this? We thought 300 candles would b...

Fr Aaron Wessman - The Church's Mission In a Polarized World - Part 2

In this part 2 of 2 episodes, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett are joined by Glenmary Home Missioners vice president Fr. Aaron Wessman, author of the book "The Church's Mission in a Polarized World." We'll discuss the modern struggle with polarization within the Church and wider society and look at how best to respond from a Catholic perspective. Show Snippet: "The son of God is sent and crosses over and he unites himself more intimately now with the world, right through the incarnation and it is that ...

Fr. Aaron Wessman - The Church's Mission in a Polarized World - Part 1

Talking To Your Kids About Sex - Part 2

Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett get together this week to discuss one of life-s trickiest topics; talking to our kids about sex. When do you start? How do you broach the subject? What do you say? It could be an example to follow, or a cautionary tale but its sure to be interesting! Show Snippet: "If you talk about how cigarette companies are trying to get you hooked early and exploit you and make money off of you. Kids are like, "Hell no." And so something similar with porn too; te performers are bein...

Talking to Your Kids About Sex - Part 1

Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett get together this week to discuss one of life's trickiest topics; talking to our kids about sex. When do you start? How do you broach the subject? What do you say? It could be an example to follow or a cautionary tale, but it's sure to be interesting! Show Snippet: So one of the things that we do in our family, and this especially because we have a range of ages and we're having conversations where there's people who are five are in the room, and people who are in the r...

Dan Shervan And Brett Salkeld On Original Sin - Part 2

This week Dr. Bret Salkeld sits down with author and poet Dan Sherven in this part two of two, to discuss the differences between Roman and Orthodox Catholic approaches to the problem of sin. Show Snippet: "Kane kills Abel and goes on to found cities just like Romulus. But the difference isn't that you have two brothers killing each other, which happens by the way, in mythology all over the world. But the Bible's unique in actually siding with the victim. And this shows up throughout the Old Tes...

Dan Shervan and Brett Salkeld on Original Sin - Part 1

This week Dr. Bret Salkeld sits down with author and poet Dan Sherven in this part one of two, to discuss the differences between Roman and Orthodox Catholic approaches to the problem of sin. Show Snippet: "You can actually be like, "You know, Western Christians can learn from Eastern Christians that, this way of talking is a good counterbalance to this other way of talking that has these potential misunderstandings associated and vice versa." Right? And so people who are really good at that kin...

Mental health in the Bible: David, Elijah, Job, and Paul

Mental Health in the Bible: David, Elijah, Job, and Paul This week, Deacon Eric breaks open sacred scripture seeking biblical models for navigating mental health challenges. He discusses David, Elijah, Job, and Paul and how their experiences can provide guidance and support for our own challenges today. Show Snippet: "How often depression, especially in the face of feeling as though we have done all the “right” things, leaves us to self-isolation and that desire to “sleep it all away.” God enter...

St. Paul Street Evangelization with Mark Hornbacher and Adam Janke - Part 2

Dr. Brett Salkeld is joined this week by Mark Hornbacher and Adam Jenke of St. Paul Street Evangelization ministries. In this part 2 of 2, they continue discussing their unique ministry work and sharing stories of their experiences in street evangelization. Show Snippet: "It's that universal call to holiness through the Second Vatican Council that rightly pointed out where we can't give what we don't have. And so if we are growing in holiness, and what do we mean by that, being set apart, uh, pr...

St. Paul Street Evangelization with Mark Hornbacher and Adam Janke - Part 1

Dr. Brett Salkeld is joined this week by Mark Hornbacher and Adam Jenke of St. Paul Street Evangelization ministries. In this part 1 of 2, they'll discuss their unique ministry work and stories of their experiences in street evangelization. Show Snippet: "A primary thing was listening to people, hearing their stories, telling your story, sharing the gospel, encouraging people to, to pray, praying with them, inviting them to check out the local parish, listening to their thoughts, their concerns ...

The Doctrine of Discovery is Not a Doctrine with Archbishop Donald Bolen and Archbishop Richard Smith - Re-leased from the "Up Front with the Archbishop" Podcast.

In light of the Vatican's recent repudiation of the "Doctrine of Discovery", we are very pleased to share the following conversation between Archbishop Donald Bolen and Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith on Archbishop Smith's "Up Front" podcast discussing this latest statement from the Vatican and the true history and context of the Church’s relationship with this so-called doctrine. Show Snippet: "Those definitions going hand in hand speak to any concept, argumentation, and justification for Eur...

Dr. Brett Salkeld and Michael Raney on Conversion and Music - Part 2

In this episode, Brett is joined once again by Michael Rainey, a convert from Seventh-Day Adventism and the music director at St. Paul's Co-Cathedral in Saskatoon. Last week, they talked about Michael's conversion and his thoughts on church music. This week, they delve deeper into the topic of liturgical music, discussing its history and controversies. Show Snippet: "Musicians have long been known as a contentious and irrational sort. So it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that this has been a ...

Dr. Brett Salkeld and Michael Raney on Conversion and Music - Part 1

This week on Thinking Faith, Dr. Brett talks with Michael Raney, a convert from Seventh Day Adventism and director of music at St. Paul's Co. Cathedral in Saskatoon. They discuss Michael's journey to Catholicism and his experiences with church music. Show Snippet: "I grew up in a Catholic family, but I never really felt like I had a personal relationship with God. It wasn't until my early 20s that I started exploring different religions and spiritual practices. I was searching for something that...

ChatGPT and AI with John Jalsevac - Part 2

In this part 2 of 2, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett visit with John Jalsevac about the explosion of interest in Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT the newest large language model AI to be opened to the general public that demonstrates remarkable capabilities and is poised to have profound effects on arts, culture and the way humans think about themselves and others. Show Snippet: "So if you want to train one of these models how to recognize a cat, for instance, what these programmers will do is they...

ChatGPT and AI with John Jalsevac - Part 1

In this part 1 of 2, Deacon Eric and Dr. Brett visit with John Jalsevac about the explosion of interest in Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT the newest large language model AI to be opened to the general public that demonstrates remarkable capabilities and is poised to have profound effects on arts, culture and the way humans think about themselves and others. Show Snippet: "So you can think of certain novels or short stories where someone is trying to woo another person and, hires their poeti...

Lenten Retreat: On Christian Hope - Part 2

Deacon Eric leads a two-part Lenten retreat with a series of reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 Encyclical Spe Salvi - "On Christian Hope." This week, we reflect on the ways we are called to put our hope into action and incarnate hope in the world. Show Snippet: "Living in hope and working for justice and peace, is precisely how we bear witness to the power of Christ's resurrection and bring his light to the world."

Lenten Retreat Christian Hope - Part 1

Deacon Eric leads a two-part Lenten retreat with a series of reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 Encyclical Spe Salvi - "On Christian Hope." We'll reflect on the biblical roots of hope, the model of fostering hope found in Israel's approach to salvation history, the fullness of hope revealed in Jesus Christ, and prayer as one of the first and essential schools of hope in our lives. Show Snippet: "We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we at...

CRISPR, BioTechnology and Catholic Ethics with Ethicist Sr. Zoe Bernatsky - Part 2

What does the Church teach about the use of CRISPR gene editing technology and other advances in biotechnology? In this part 2 of 2, Dr. Brett Salkeld opens a conversation with Sr. Zoe Bernatsky, professor of Moral, Spiritual, and Pastoral Theology at Newman Theological College in Edmonton, Alberta.

CRISPR, Biotechnology, and Catholic Ethics with Ethicist Sr. Zoe Bernatsky

What does the Church teach about the use of CRISPR gene editing technology and other advances in biotechnology? In this part 1 of 2, Dr. Brett Salkeld opens a conversation with Sr. Zoe Bernatsky, professor of Moral, Spiritual, and Pastoral Theology at Newman Theological College in Edmonton, Alberta. Show Snippet: "It's relatively straightforward to change a single gene, and if you've ever watched someone suffer with Huntington's, you would say, "I can, I can stop that by changing a single gene? ...